THE TEACHER'S HELPER ^10^^^?^^ 

Yol. VII. OCTOBER, IDOO JHo. « 




THE TEACHER'S HELPER is published tnontltly in Chicago b? A. FLAMASAN CO. 
Entered in Chicago Post Offtco ac Soc&nd Class Mali. 



DIDACTICS 



BY 

S. H. CARPENTER 

Late Professor of English Literature, University of Wisconsin, 
Madison, Wis. 



Compiled by Alex. Berger 



CHICAGO 
A. FLANAGAN CO., PUBLISHERS 
L- 



1G786 



Library of Congress 

Two Copies Received 
JUL 9 1900 

Copyright entry 

^..a,..iMsib... 

SECOND COPY. 

Detiverfld to 

ORDER DIVISION, 



-ft lL 19 1900 
65300 

Copyright, 1900 

BY 

A. FLANAGAN CO. 



Dedicated to the former students of 
Professor S. H. Carpenter 



PREFACE. 

Lincoln, Neb. 
At the request of a few members of the class of 1878 
of the University of Wisconsin, Professor Carpenter de- 
livered a course of lectures on Didactics. The following 
year he died. There is no evidence that these lectures 
were preserved in any other way than by notations of 
Mr. W. A. Corson, now of Omaha, Neb., and myself, 
and it has been my pleasure, twenty years after their 
delivery, to review them and find anew sO' much value 
in them that I think they ought to be preserved in a 
more permanent form and for general distribution. I 
wish to thus publicly thank Mr. Corson for the use of 
his notebook and assistance. During this great lapse 
of time, it is no more than natural that much should 
have been forgotten which it might have been well to 
have preserved. I have tried to^ present the lectures in 
the spirit and form in which they were delivered. The 
perfections are Professor Carpenter's; the errors are 
my own. I have found much in these notes in years 
past of great value to me not only in the treatment of 
children, but in the handling of men, for man is ever a 
chiW. The old students who had the great privilege of 
receiving the instruction of Prof. Carpenter will, I think, 
with one accord, say he had a greater faculty of impart- 

7 



8 PREFACE. 

ing knowledge than any other instructor with whom 
they may have come in contact. He loved his profes- 
sion, even as he asks in his lectures, that the coming 
teacher should love it and he put into its requirements 
not alone love, but great perseverance, patience, ability 
— indeed his life — and these lectures are a few of the 
principles enunciated by him as the result of a wide 
experience. They are the philosophy of his life. 

ALEX BERGER. 



DIDACTICS. 

I. ■ Introductory: 

1. Teaching as a profession. 

2. Rank of the profession. 

3. Teaching — what is it? 
II. Qualifications of the teacher. 

1. Mental. 

a. Thorough scholarship. 

b. Ability to impart knowledge. 

c. Apprehension of others' thoughts. 

d. Detection of difficulties. 

2. Emotional. 

a. Love of. knowledge. 

b. Love for the profession. 

c. Sympathy with learners. 

d. Love for truth, virtue and beauty. 

3. Volitional. 

a. Self-control. 

b. Control of others. 

c. Steadfastness. 

d. Patience. 

4. Physical. 

a. Healthy body. 

b. Avoidance of singularities. 

9 



10 



III. 



IV. 





DIDACTICS. 


5- 


Social. 




a. With children. 




b. With parents. 


6. 


Moral. 




a. Morality a necessity. 




b. Influence must be exerted, 


Practical Suggestions. 


I. 


Apparatus. 


2. 


School management. 


Methods. 


I. 


Must devise own methods. 


2. 


Reading. 


3- 


Arithmetic. 


4- 


Geography. 


5- 


Grammar. 



DIDACTICS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. • 
CLASSIFICATION OF AVOCATIONS. 

Avocations are classified according to the nature of 
the force employed in securing results. 

The Laborer employs muscular force to accomplish 
results. When he employs this and nothing more, it is 
the lowest kind of labor and approaches in character 
that of the animal. When he guides an animal he em- 
ploys a combination of muscular strength and intellec- 
tual powers. 

The Mechanic employs natural agents to aid or take 
the place of muscular strength. Handicrafts rise in dig- 
nity in proportion as they cease using muscle and em- 
ploy mind. 

The Tradesman or Merchant partially employs intel- 
lectual labor or strength, in connection with skilled 
labor and in directing or in superintending the labor of 
others. 

A Professional Man is one who wholly employs intel- 
lectual force. 

II 



12 DIDACTICS. 

In the above analysis it is found that manual labor is 
minimized as we ascend and the classification is based 
on the means employed, while in the professions, the di- 
visions are made on the end to be secured. 

In law the end is social well-being", in medicine physi- 
cal well-being, in theology moral well-being and in di- 
dactics intellectual well-being. 

Theolog-y regards man's relations to God and ethics 
man's relations 'to man and didactics has to do with 
man's intellectual relations, both as an individual and a 
social being. It is the science of teaching and aims to 
secure through the pupil, the individual good of man and 
through society, the general good of man. 

The profession of war and politics aims to preserve 
national rights, war through employing force and poli- 
tics through statesmanship and diplomacy. In point of 
dignity theology and didactics are of the highest rank, 
theology being- at the summit. 



DIDACTICS. 13 

CHAPTER 11. 

THE RANK OF THE TEACHER'S PROFESSION. 

AIM AND DIGNITY. 

That profession is the highest whose aims are the best 
and whose results are the most permanent. In Medi- 
cine, the aims are high but the results are varying, for 
man cured today may become sick tomorrow. Didactics 
aims at intellectual culture and its results are as lasting 
as the intellectual nature. 

The dignity of the profession is shown by the prepara- 
tion required and by the difficulties tO' be overcome in 
fitting as a teacher and in the practice of the pro- 
fession. The. teacher must have a specific and accurate 
knowledge of the subject to be taught and also of col- 
lateral subjects. He must feel that he is full and looks 
on the subject from on high. He must also acquire an 
accurate knowledge of the laws governing intellectual 
action, that is mental philosophy. He should also un- 
derstand the moral, intellectual and social conditions 
under which these laws are to be applied. Experience 
has shown that Catholic children are the most teachable, 
because it has been their habit to accept without ques- 
tion. In a skeptical community, care must be exer- 
cised in advancing a truth dogmatically. Rather make 
a statement modestly at first and then bring the proof, 
after which the strongest statement may follow. The 



14 DIDACTICS. 

physical condition of the community must alsO' be con- 
sidered. In a well-to-do and enlightened community, 
to punish may not be necessary, while in a poor and 
unenlightened community, the rod may necessarily be 
requisite. The difficulty the teacher experiences in fit- 
ting himself can be conceived in the wide range of 
studies required and in the necessity of his knowing- 
much more than he wants to teach. To' know is one 
thing; to be able to^ impart it, is another. A man may 
be as wise as Solomon, but still be a poor teacher, if he 
knows not how to communicate his knowledge. A 
teacher has a large number of pupils before him. His 
difficulties grow out of the different characteristics of 
the individuals. The lawyer has one point of law before 
him; the physician, one patient, but the teacher has 
many pupils. One of the difficulties in co-education 
arises from the difference between the masculine and 
feminine mind; the latter are quickest in perception; the 
former strongest in reflection. It takes much time 
and many ways to^ reach different intellects. An in- 
stance is given of a little girl who wished tO' learn geog-- 
raphy. Her main difficulty consisted in an inability 
to conceive a map. Her father's house and barn and 
roads leading to and from it were drawn upon a slate 
and the little mind grasped the idea at once. A man, 
now quite prominent, had no conception of an abstrac- 
tion. He was told wdien a pupil to write upon the 
blackboard ''Let x equal an unknown quantity." ''But," 
said he, "how can it represent an unknown quantity 



DIDACTICS. 15 

when you don't know what it is?" Upon being urged 
to dO' as he was told the absurdity appeared sO' strongly 
to his concrete conception, that he left the school room 
never to return. Another difficulty the teacher meets is 
found in the ignorance and officiousness of patrons. In 
the country district, the most ignorant talk the loudest 
and know the most about conducting a school. Such a 
one must always be flanked; never opposed directly. 

THE VALUE OF THE PROFESSION. 

The value of the profession is determined by its re- 
sults. It opens the mind, enlarges the powers, de- 
velops a world of thought and beauty. The learned 
man is never alone. The habit of obedience to the 
law is given by the school. It also' checks vicious habits 
by stimulating desires and presenting motives. It makes 
vice seem, unmanly. Its emphasis of moral power tends 
tO' array the best educated on the side of law and order. 
The education of school life is its politics. The school 
tends to secure the proper exercise of man's power 
and to give him content. Ignorance is the mother of 
discontent; knowledge of content. 

The reward of the profession is not money. A man 
sells that which he holds tO' be cheap. There is no 
price to the mother for her child! It is above price. The 
teacher's reward is measured by the moral good, by 
the consciousness of good done to- others, by the lasting 
and beneficent influence of his work and by the honor- 
able position he holds among men. 



l6 . DIDACTICS. 

CHAPTER III. 

TEACHING— WHAT IS IT? 

Didactics may be defined as the science that aims to 
discover, enunciate and systematize the laws in accord- 
ance with which the mind gains knowledge. Teaching 
is the art corresponding to didactics. Science aims to 
discover laws and art to obey them. The former is 
theoretical, the latter practical. One knows, the other 
does. 

Teaching is assisting the mind to gain knowledge; is 
developing the mind to think. Knowledge is wholly a 
personal possession. It cannot be communicated. The 
great orator is he who controls the minds of his audience 
to the extent that they think his thoughts. The teacher 
is often discouraged because the mind of the pupil does 
not follow him to the desired degree. If left alone after 
the proper impetus has been given, the pupil will come 
out all right. Currant jelly being furnished with proper 
conditions and then not disturbed, will work itself clear. 
A young man when first beginning to think on religious 
topics becomes skeptical. Unopposed he will work him- 
self clear; if antagonized he is liable to become a con- 
firmed skeptic. If you always walk on crutches, you 
can never go alone. Knowledge, therefore, is personal 
and must be mastered by each one for himself, but it is 
the office of the teacher tO' aid and direct the mental 



DIDACTICS. 17 

processes, mainly in accordance with the la\v of associa- 
tion, which, briefly stated, is that two ideas which have 
been together in the mind, tend to reappear there again 
or that the presence of one idea suggests the other. 
The new idea must ahvays be attached to the old one 
and it is the first duty of the teacher to find what the 
child knows and connect the new idea toi be taught 
with the past knowledge. This must be done by ex- 
planation, not by thinking for the pupil. The work of 
the teacher then is first tO' lead the pupil to apprehend 
a new idea by means of the knowledge he already has. 
To' do this it is necessary to have an acquaintance with 
the subject to be taught, with the pupil's knowledge and 
what is intermediate between the two. The further 
work of the teacher consists in explanation or the analy- 
sis of an idea until there is found some portion of it, 
which the student understands, and then build upon 
it synthetically. In explanation care should be exer- 
cised to distinguish between difficult ideas and difficult 
words. The idea may be simple but the words difficult. 
Then direct your attention to an explanation of the 
words. Should the reverse be true, then direct atten- 
tion to the idea. An explanation should touch but one 
point at a time. If the eye be overflooded with light, 
nothing is seen. So, if the brain, be overflooded with 
ideas, the pupil will not understand. If you try to fill 
a jug all at once, much of the water will run over, but 
it will take a small stream till filled. The difficulty 
with the pupil most frequently arises from a confusion 



l8 DIDACTICS. 

oi ideas. The explanation should proceed in an orderly 
manner and every difficulty must be explained by a less 
difficulty, so far as the student is concerned. 

WHAT TO AVOID IN TEACHING. 

Things to be avoided are too much help, or doing 
the pupil's work, thereby weakening the mental muscles, 
and the pupil will merely see intO' it, not know it. To 
lead is one thing, to follow is another. There should also 
not be toO' little help, lest the pupil become discouraged. 
How much assistance to give must be determined by the 
character of the pupil. Another thing to avoid is 
''wrong help," for this is like the custom, when a horse 
is running away or starting to run, of the bystanders 
to chase the animal with canes and umbrellas, shouting 
"whoa." 



DIDACTICS. 19 

CHAPTER IV. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER. 

MENTAL. 

WHAT CONSTITUTES THOROUGH SCHOLARSHIP. 

Thorough scholarship consists in exactness, or know- 
ing exactly the subject; in completeness, or knowing the 
whole of the subject; and in definiteness, or knowing the 
details of the subject. We do not mean by thorough- 
ness a knowledge of the book, but of the sul^ject. The 
reason must precede the memory. Memorizing is not 
learning", although at a certain stage the child can only 
memorize. It is a waste of time to learn mere words, 
except in certain cases. Memory must always be held 
as a servant. Exactness is often hindered by words 
we do not know. Sharp questions of scholars often ex- 
pose the failure of the teacher toi be conversant with the 
details of the subject. 

Thoroughness is secured by constant and careful 
study of the immediate and allied topics, with a view 
to subsequent explanation. Geography can be illus- 
trated by astronomy, history by .biography. 

Ag-ain, thoroughness is secured l:>y constant practice, 
which tests our mastery of knowledge, and by observa- 
tion of wherein we fail to succeed, or wherein others 
fail or succeed, and 1)y a love of the profession. 

Thoroughness leads to ability to express ideas clearly. 
A pupil may say "I know, but cannot tell;" the teacher. 



20 DIDACTICS. 

never. It also leads to confidence in the ability to teach. 
A lack of confidence is want of power. The fear of 
possible failure is frequently the cause of failure, as is 
manifested by a hesitancy preceding the failure in music 
playing, spelling or speaking. The scholar partakes 
M the nature of his teacher, and lack of confidence in 
the teacher is manifested in the pupil. Thoroughness 
also leads to^ a love of the calling and finally to success. 
The surest way to secure success is to deserve it. Thor- 
ough teachers make thorough scholars. A man with a 
deficiency of learning but a love for the profession will 
succeed when another of greater learning and.no love 
will fail. 

COMMUNICATION OF KNOWLEDGE. 

The teacher should possess the ability to communi- 
cate his acquired knowledge — accurately, by precision of 
statement; fully, so that an explanation will not again 
need an explanation; simply, but not coming down to 
the plane of his audience; readily, for hesitation creates 
distrust; and with facility and ease. 

Accurate statement involves both clear and distinct 
knowledge. To render a full statement requires thor- 
ough knowledge. It is most readily apprehended by 
the pupil, wdiile a concise statement is most easily re- 
membered. The full statement is the method of ex- 
planation, while the concise statement is the method of 
recitation and best used in review. Simple statement 
is secured by looking at the subject from the student's 
standpoint and means concrete knowledge. Some men 



DIDACTICS. 21 

always deal in abstractions. Ready statement is secured 
by imiformi and systematic practice and best obtained 
by self criticism. A teacher should never impart his 
knowledge in a loose manner. Accurate teaching or 
statement leads to an accurate recitation. Children imi- 
tate naturally and unconsciously. 

Thorough teaching leads to thorough study and 
preparation. A teacher should never be in a hurry. 
Haste may be at the expense of thoroughness. 

Simple statement leadsi tO' a ready apprehension and 
guards against a mere memorizing of words. We are 
very apt to mistake what is familiar with what is clear. 
Never use a word unless it adds to the meaning. 

Ready and easy statement leads to a ready and rapid 
recitation. 

APPREHENSION OF THOUGHTS OF OTHERS. 

The teacher should be able to readily apprehend the 
thoughts of others. He thereby discriminates between 
a memoriter recitation and one thoroughly prepared. 
This discrimination is often difficult. A recitation may 
be faulty for want of accurate knowledge or for want 
of adequate language. An unusually strong memory 
generally accompanies weak reflective powers. A reci- 
tation is intended to test a pupil's diligence and his 
knowledge. Language conveys thought by means of 
symbols. Therefore, two mistakes may arise in inter- 
preting another. The symbol may convey the wrong 
thought or the terms used may be misunderstood. The 



2.2 DIDACTICS. 

more accurate the thought, the greater the difficuUy to 
secure the symbol tO' express it. The more numerous 
and accurate the thoughts, the greater the hesitancy in 
expression. The teacher must be able to make discrim- 
inations, based on the age of the pupil, realizing that 
the perceptive power of young pupils is greater than 
their reflective power, on the temperament of the pupil 
and on his previous training. A readiness of appre- 
hension is essential to judicial assistance. It is secured 
by a study of our own mental processes and of the efforts 
of others to express their ideas. 

DETECTION OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE PUPIL. 

There should be developed a readiness to detect diffi- 
culties in the way of the learner. Proper explanation 
depends upon this faculty. This readiness requires a 
careful analysis of the subject, an acquaintance with the 
student's mental peculiarities, a knowledge of the pupil's 
previous knowledge and a power in the use of illus- 
tration. Illustrations are most dependent on compari- 
son and contrast. They should be picturesque, employ- 
ing the sight or sound, or both, and should be enhanced 
by drawing. 

The first principle of proper diagnosis is to remember 
when the teacher was a pupil and his experiences. Ab- 
struseness is a frequent difffculty. The stoppage of the 
child's mind is in one point and the illustration must be 
centralized on thispoint. Sometimes the mind is obstinate 
or paralyzed. The effort should then be to have the at- 



DIDACTICS. 23 

tention diverted to another view. Picturesque illustra- 
tion appeals toboth sight and sound, but more especially 
the latter. Beecher possessed to an extraordinary de- 
gree the power of picturesque illustration. Detecting- 
a difficulty is one thing-; removing- it quite another. The 
latter requires much skill. ''A stern chase is a hard 
one." Avoid extremes of too much or toO' little help, 
giving- no' more than is necessary. The manner of 
aiding is also important and the effort should be, as in 
a wise charity, to help the pupil to help himself. What 
the pupil should develop is ''self reliance." He may 
go throug'h college nicely, but like Darius Green's flying 
machine, the wings are all right till he begins to fly. It 
is occasion of frequent remark that the salutatorians and 
valedictorians at college most frequently lose this rela- 
tive position in the world. This is largely due from the 
nature of things to marks being given at college for pro- 
ficiency in memorizing. The college student reproduces 
the thoughts of others; in the world he must be a pro- 
ducer, and self reliance is a means of establishing and 
cultivating this faculty of production. 

The nature of the help is important. Note the dif- 
ference between an explanation that reaches the com- 
prehension and one that only reaches the apprehension. 
Apprehension invokes the perception, comprehension 
the conception. Moody reached the apprehension but 
not the comprehension. The abstract appeals to the 
comprehension and the concrete to the apprehension. 
The comprehension should be reached through the ap- 
prehension. 



24 DIDACTICS. 

CHAPTER V. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER. 

EMOTIONAL. 

LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE. 

There should be with every teacher a love of knowl- 
edge for itself alone. Susceptibility to emotions is a 
condition of influence. Knowledge must be appre- 
hended by the reason and it must be loved by the emo- 
tional nature. The former makes a wise man; the latter 
a good teacher. Motives most forcible in securing 
action are those that appeal to> our sensibilities. Reason 
does not move an audience. Reason is essentially ego- 
istic. Emotion is essentially participative. Sounds 
without sense may move the emotional nature. By 
magnetic power of a speaker is meant his susceptibility 
to emotion in himself. Sensibility lies between intellect 
and will. Reason is essentially selfish — egoistic. By 
this is meant that a man's thinking process is his own 
and can be participated in by none others. When a 
man wishes to do deep, solid thinking, he prefers being 
alone. Not so with emotion. It longs for a congenial 
spirit. It is essentially participative. The love for 
knowledge means emotional hold on knowledge. It 
secures culture, which is the result of knowledge held 
in sympathy with mankind. It is the refinement spring- 
ino; from that which is truest and noblest. It likewise 



DIDACTICS. 25 

secures interest in self preparation, thoroughness, hon- 
esty towards self and pupil, sympathy with the ignorant 
and patience with the dull. Sympathy with the ignorant 
is the strongest power to success. Sympathy is the 
great secret to power. It is the leading characteristic 
in the speeches of Mark Antony and Cicero. As soon 
as a teacher ceases to learn he has no sympathy with 
learners and he should cease teaching. The lower the 
grade of teacher, the more necessity of patience. This 
love of knowledge is secured by continual study, for 
love grows by exercise and by the mastery of some one 
department of study. Mastery is the secret of interest 
and interest is the secret of success. 

LOVE OF THE PROFESSION. 

There should be a love for the profession. Without 
it, teaching becomes a drudg-ery. Drudgery is irritating 
and degrading. A man can labor much, but drudge only 
a little. Any labor in which is found pleasure, is en- 
nobling in so far as it calls the higher faculties into play. 
The difference between labor and drudgery is that in the 
former there is the heart, while in the latter it is not. 
The labor of teaching must be wholly voluntary to be 
pleasurable. A person who dislikes to teach will shirk 
study and pupils will do likewise. A profession is exact- 
ing and jealous, demanding totus in rem. In no pro- 
fession is the demand more exacting. 

A love for the profession secures enthusiasm and 
pleasure in the work, both of teacher and pupil. If 



26 DIDACTICS. 

we build a, house for a season only, it is not well built. 
Teaching should not be a make-shift. Love is lasting 
and continuous and one of its characteristics is its re- 
fusal of change. Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm. An 
enthusiastic teacher is liable to be nervous. Indeed, 
nervousness is the price that man pays for enthusiasm 
and should be held in check. A love for the profession 
is manifested in a careful preparation for its duties and 
conscientious thoroughness in the work. Love suffers 
no slight and tolerates none. Loose, shiftless teaching 
should be regarded as a personal disgrace. Love secures 
a steady pursuit of the profession and success in the pro- 
fession. Nothing will ensure success like deserving. 

Love for the profession is secured by a natural apti- 
tude for its duties. If there is a natural fitness for a 
thing, then God demands devotion to it. The differ- 
ence between the high development of the reflective 
powers of man and the perceptive powers of woman is 
the cause of their difference in teaching. Love of the 
profession also creates a consideration of the importance 
of education and of the consequent dignity of the pro- 
fession. Knowledge is power and enlarged power is 
increased responsibility, and enlarged responsibility is 
enlarged nobility. Responsibility steadies man as in the 
case of Lincoln. Love likewise creates a keen appre- 
ciation of the evils and dangers of ignorance and culti- 
vates a truly philanthropic spirit. Voluntary ignorance 
is intellectual treason and when a man is a traitor to one 
faculty he is a traitor to all. 



DIDACTICS. 27 

SYMPATHY WITH THE LEARNER. 

There should be ever present a ready sympathy with 
learners. It is the source of all moral power and as- 
sumes an equality. It is easy to exercise pity, for it 
exalts the one exercising it and debases the one on 
whom it is exercised. The tones of pity and contempt 
should be avoided. One always pities what is beneath 
him. It is a self-fiattering faculty. True sympathy re- 
spects its object. The teacher should avoid w^ounding 
the self-respect of the pupil. A mistake here weakens 
power and begets a spirit of insubordination and retalia- 
tion. Government is due to moral suasion. Force 
may be respected, but once lost, respect is lost. Ignor- 
ance should be looked upon as a misfortune and harsh- 
ness toward misfortune is cruelty. 

Sympathy secures the authority of the teacher by 
gaining the confidence of the pupil ^nd by fixing that 
confidence on moral influence and the tractability of the 
pupil. Pupils desire to please the teacher for whom 
they have regard. 

Sympathy may be cultivated by cultivating a love for 
children, by interesting ourselves in what interests them, 
by meeting them sometimes on a common level, by co- 
operating with them in eftorts of self-improvement and 
by social habits. 

The teacher should possess a love for Truth, Virtue 
and Beauty. These are the three regulative ideas of the 
human intelligence. 



28 DIDACTICS. 

A reg-ulative idea is that idea upon which the action 
of the faculty is conditioned. Were there no such thing 
as Right and Wrong then there would be no possibilit)^ 
of volitional activity, as with no light, there would be 
no activity in the eye. 

Intellectual action is conditioned on Truth, emotional 
action is conditioned on Beauty and volitioiv&l action is 
conditioned on Virtue or the Right. 

A love for Truth secures authority. Recog-nizing the 
authority of the truth the teacher becomes the medium, 
not the source of authority. The secret of authority is 
its uniform, steady exercise. A recognition of the au- 
thority of the Truth secures this. Authority rests upon 
obedience. Man governs as he obeys. This is true 
with respect to both physical and moral control. A man 
whoi cannot obey cannot command. Electricity cannot 
be governed unless its laws are obeyed. A man unable 
to control himself cannot control a school. At certain 
ages children have a natural antipathy to personal au- 
thority. One of these periods is at the time the child 
is passing tO' maturity. Authority should then be made 
impersonal. This is a natural period of intellectual 
growth. 

The recognition of authority of Truth secures per- 
manent and intelligent submission. A teacher, a parent 
or a guardian should never prevaricate. This does not 
imply an unchanged opinion or line of conduct. Dr. 
Johnson says: ''No one but an idiot never changes his 
mind. 



DIDACTICS. 29 

LOVE OF VIRTUE. 

A love of Virtue secures influence. Virtue is moral 
order and all control rests ultimately on Right. Au- 
thority is an influence which a man proposes to enforce. 
Influence is moral authority. A love of Virtue may be 
strengthened by habits of reflection, by its uniform ex- 
ercise and by avoiding all familiarity with vice. 

LOVE FOR BEAUTY. 

The teacher must have a love for Beauty. This is 
the most important qualification yet discussed. A love 
for Beauty secures order. Taste is the virtue of the 
emotional nature. Ug-liness is emotional sin. Beauty 
requires order, harmony, fitness and neatness in person, 
in manner, in langaiage and in intercourse. Women 
have neater schools, generally, than men, because they 
are neater in person. A delicate aesthetic sense is pained 
by disorder, and want of neatness invites disorder. Love 
of beauty should not degenerate into foppery and beauty 
should be made subsidiary to noble aims. 

All the appurtenances of a school should be in keep- 
ing with its high character, in person and all personal 
surroundings, in tone, action and position, and gentle- 
manliness in avoiding coarseness and slang. The aes- 
thetic sense may be cultivated by the presence of refined 
objects, such as pictures and flowers, by drawings which 
cultivate the eye, by music which educates the ear and 
by always doing the best possible, thereby avoiding 



30 DIDACTICS. 

habits of carelessness. The flower mission started in 
London, where women took a single plant in blossom 
and asked women living in squalor to care for it and 
put it in the window, but asked nothing more. There 
followed, as a direct sequence, clean windows, clean 
houses and clean persons, changing the character of 
that part of the city. One of the characteristics of a 
boy is to destroy what is going tO' decay. Let a window- 
pane in a vacant house be once broken and within a 
week not a whole pane would be left. It would seem 
that a kind providence had implanted in youth the de- 
sire to destroy the unsightly. 



DIDACTICS. 31 

CHAPTER VI. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER. 

VOLITIONAL. 

SELF-CONTROL. 

The will is the dominant power in man. Force or 
weakness of character depends upon it. More fail from 
want of will than from want of acquirement or of sym- 
pathy. Will is the executive power of man. The legis- 
lative part of our nature passes a law, sends it in to the 
executive and it is approved, but too frequently not 
enforced because of a weak executive. Want of will is 
in harmony with man's indolence. Emerson says: "Will 
gives a man new eyes." 

The basis of all control is self-control. He who cannot 

command himself cannot command others. Want of 

self-control indicates a deficiency of power in the will 

that foretells the failure. Failure in most instances is 

due to this. 

CONTROL OF KNOWLEDGE. 

The teacher must have control over knowledge. It 
is not sufficient for him to possess knowledge. He 
must have it within reach. For some knowledge that 
the teacher does not wish to carry, it is sufficient to know 
where to find it. A wise man is not necessarily a good 
teacher. Knowledge that we know may be of use to us, 



32 DIDACTICS. 

but only knowledge that we can impart will benefit the 
pupil. The recitation is appointed to raise difficulties. 
The trouble with teaching is that the teacher has learned 
the subject matter and not learned to present it. In 
a few years, all of any subject can be known, nothing 
more can be learned, but the knowledge tO' be acquired 
in presenting it is illimitable. Therefore, the good 
teacher always finds new ground and tO' such a one 
cannot be applied Shakespeare's phrase of ''the damna- 
ble iteration" of a teacher's life. 

The control over knowledge is secured by thorough 
study with reference to teaching. The subject, not 
words, should be studied until mastered and then how 
it is to be presented. The habit should be formed of 
watching mental processes. 

Control is also secured by experience. This is not 
mere repetition, because this would- lead simply to 
habit. Experience is the determination of methods by a 
study of our failures to see why we failed and of our 
successes to see why we succeeded. 

CONTROL OF PASSION. 

The teacher must have control over passion. Passion 
is a weakness — it is a circumstance controlling the man. 
The power to control this can be acquired. Men who 
get thoroughly mad about something, are afterwards 
thoroughly ashamed of it. Slowness in action and speech 
will control passion. If passion controls the teacher, 
he cannot control others. Passion is unjust, unbridled 



DIDACTICS. 33 

and unmanly. The self-control must be gained by 
variable exercise. It should grow into a habit. The 
first attack on a teacher's authority is his own passion. 

CONTROL OVER MOVEMENTS. 

The teacher should have control over the body. Awk- 
wardness reveals a want of control. This physical self- 
control has a great power over children. He should 
aim at grace and gentleness for his own sake and for 
the power it gives over others. _ __ 

CONTROL OF OTHERS. 

Not only should the teacher acquire self-control, but 
should possess the ability to govern others. This abil- 
ity is determined largely by ability .to govern one's self 
in knowledge, passion and person. The ability to gov- 
ern is secured by obedience to the following principles: 

I. The agency of government must in the main be 
moral influence. If moral influences fail, force must be 
resorted to. The best government is that that secures 
self-government. The worst is that that relies wholly 
oil force. The l)est is hardly ever attainable. The worst 
is always partially avoidable. No government can be 
maintained that relies wholly on force, because force 
invites force. The idea of force suggests tyranny. Fre- 
quent use of punishment or mere force shows a lack of 
skill. Skill is shown in proportion tO' the lack of pun- 
ishment. A superintendent once sent a woman to an 
unruly school. She whipped eighteen boys the first 



34 DIDACTICS. 

day and remained there four years and never whipped 
another. Her whippings therefore did not average high. 
After the first day, some women Hving in the ward 
wished tO' know of the superintendent what kind of 
thing he had sent them. The reply was a "Threshing 
Machine." A command should never be explained after 
it is made. The explanation should be made before. 
The idea of reverence is that of superior moral or intel- 
lectual power and of fear, of physical strength. The 
teacher should impress upon the school that punishment 
by force is not the general government, but the excep- 
tion, and when applied is a mark of disgrace. The no- 
tion of punishment should be attached to the act. If 
force is used too freely, it will have to be continually 
increased. Punishment should be in private or the pupil 
might become a hero to his mates, or may lose his self- 
respect, if it is open. If a single rule is violated without 
the infliction of a penalty, it is sometimes long or never 
that the teacher again gains control. 

2. No government can be maintained that wholly 
neglects force. All punishment involves the right to 
resort tO' force. Obedience is not true obedience when 
it demands any conditions. Above the command must 
be the moral influence of authority. Besides the com- 
mand must be seen its reasonableness and behind it must 
be sufficient force to execute it. 

3. The moral influence of force is fear or awe and 
of authority is reverence. Familiarity lessens the 
force of fear and authority. 



DIDACTICS. 35 

4. The certainty of punishment is more effective 
than its severity. It must be very prompt when em- 
ployed. Never threaten. If you perform your threat 
it will be attributed tO' passion; if you do not it will be 
charged to weakness or fear. In either case authority 
is weakened. State the law judiciously and require 
obedience first to^ the law and then to yourself. The 
idea of punishment must be connected, with the offense 
and must grow out of it. Punishment should be pro- 
portioned to the offense. 

Authority is maintained by direct methods^ — by force 
and its consequent fear and awe, by authority and its 
consequent reverence, by the love of reward, such as 
things tangible, premiums, etc., and things intangible, 
approbation and promotion, and by presenting motives 
to the self-respect of pupils. Reward is the most pow- 
erful incentive to human action. The reward must have 
no particular pecuniary value, because the reward might 
take the place of the desire for learning. Man is a social 
being because he likes approbation. Rewards should 
be of sufficient number to make them fairly attainable. 
When rewards are too few, emulation arises. Try to 
impress upon the pupil that to need government is 
childish; to do without it is manly. 

Authority is maintained by indirect methods also. 
By keeping the pupil busy, by occupying his atten- 
tion and by observing and avoiding occasions of 
disobedience. Disobedience arises chiefly from three 
causes — the love of opposition, in which case turn 



36 DIDACTICS. 

the current of opposition from the law; the love 
of activity, in which case keep the activities under 
control — mere physical restraint may cause disorder 
and the remedy here is exercise; and lastly, the love 
of notoriety. Render notoriety painful by making the 
object ridiculous. Ridicule is the legitimate instrument 
to use against notoriety. It should be used for restraint 
only, for motive never. 

Success in government is secured by natural tact, ex- 
ecutive ability or the possession of will. Discriminate 
between firmness and stubbornness. The first holds on 
till convinced and considers it no disgrace to yield when 
convinced. 

Success is also secured by adequate preparation, by a 
hearty love for the work, by proper and sufficient appa- 
ratus and by objects of beauty, etc., that aid in cultivat- 
ing taste. 

STEADFASTNESS OF PURPOSE. 

There must be steadfastness of purpose. The teacher 
must guard against discouragements. These arise from 
the dullness of pupils, the misapprehension or neglect 
of patrons and the slow ripening of results. Steadfast- 
ness implies an end in view and lies in the head that 
governs, plans and commands; obstinacy lies in the 
heels. Obstinacy is inertia; steadfastness momentum. 
The stubborn have not a strong will but a weak one. 
There are two ways of teaching — submitting, first, to no 
more strain than just suf^cient to hear the lesson, and, 
secondly, giving your life, heart and activity tO' the work. 



DIDACTICS. 37 

This last, and the only proper method, is a great strain 
on the nerves, but be careful not to get nervous. Proper 
economy requires, when you have spent many years in 
preparation, that you draw upon it and not let it lie 
idle. If this is not done, your special preparation of 
imparting is thrown away, though your knowledge re- 
mains. A teacher must master every difificulty as it 
presents itself. 

Misapprehension is w^orse than neglect. The ignor- 
ant are very prejudiced, and most apt to form conclu- 
sions without proper data. This arises from, the fact 
that they do not know there are fields -beyond, and also 
fields in which one must tread with caution. The edu- 
cated mind learns this and sees the futility of correct 
judgments in every field by one finite mind. The end 
in teaching is the intellectual good of the pupil. Selfish- 
ness always defeats itself. It is never selfish to get; the 
selfishness consists in keeping. If good is done with 
acquirements, the more obtained the better. The im- 
mediate end in teaching is self-interest, and this passes 
into selfishness when it leaves out of view the use to 
be made of our goods. The ultimate end in teaching is 
benevolence. If one has not this ingredient in his in- 
tention he should not enter the profession. This is the 
ultimate end of all true living, but in order to give we 
must first get. Ultimate ends are first reached by 
mediate ends, as knowledge, influence, position, etc. 

Steadfastness works according to a method. The 
teachers' profession must be entered for life. Methods 



38 DIDACTICS. 

should, therefore, be made a careful study. Success de- 
mands the adoption of right methods. Steadfastness 
secures against discouragement. Mere persistence often 
wins. A woman's natural life is that of the teacher of 
everything. Difficulties should not be avoided for the 
time being, because they always come again. 

Steadfastness is secured by a careful study of our 
own powers, thereby establishing self-confidence, of the 
difficulties tO' be overcome, of the means to be employed 
and of a resolute and manly activity. Laziness suggests 

difficulties. 

PATIENCE. 

The teacher must be patient. Haste is opposed to 
thoroughness. Patience is a great virtue and is often 
referred to in the Scriptures. Time is necessary or essen- 
tial to the maturity of every valuable result. If a thing 
is obtained speedily, it is usually of little value — "Quick 
come, quick go." Fortunes bequeathed, very seldom 
grow in the hands of heirs; they dwindle away and are 
goue, nO' one knows where. Patience is thus essential 
to success in teaching and this success is purely personal. 
It is not unfeeling stoicism. Stoicism endures because 
it don't care; patience endures and does care. True 
patience involves four elements: 

1st. Interest. The mere force of will is not sufficient. 
Xenophon says a pupil cannot learn of a teacher whom 
he does not like. As a teacher grows older he has less 
and less personal interest in pupils, looking upon them 
more as forces or plants to be trained. 



DIDACTICS. 39 

2d. Persistence. It is the steady hand that wins. 
Peter the Great, when fighting Charles XII of Sweden, 
was repeatedly defeated, though having a larger army. 
"Never mind," said he to his troops, ''we will learn by 
and by," and he did learn. 

3d. Discernment. Patience is not mere endurance. 
Patience involves expectation. The evil of today under 
its influence is endured because of the improvement of 
tomorrow. Napoleon once called for a volunteer to 
perform a difficult and dangerous service. A young 
officer offered himself and upon receiving the order from 
Napoleon's hand, turned deadly pale. Upon observing 
this one of his aids said, ''See, he turns pale; that man's 
a coward." "No'," said Napoleon, "he is the bravest 
man in the army, for he realizes the danger and faces it." 

4th. Conviction is the source of all moral power. It is 
the belief in the possibility of success. No. young man 
should place a limit on his ambition. If a man has con- 
victions, he has power. As a general rule, impatience 
is a sign of weakness. A child cannot wait a moment 
for what it wants; a man can wait years. 

Patience is secured by self-discipline and self-control, 
by a consideration of methods as well as ends, for impa- 
tience sees only the end and frets at the necessity of 
method. 

Patience secures power or a solid growth of influence, 
confidence in our own power and trust on the part of 
others. Patience reveals true power. A patient man 
can be trusted. 



CHAPTER VIL 

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER. 

PHYSICAL. 

HEALTH OF THE TEACHER. 

The teacher should have a healthy body. No other 
calling makes so great a demand upon the vital powers. 
It has been tested and proven physiologically that three 
hours of strong mental efifort is equal to ten hours of 
physical labor. If a man taxes his mind and leaves his 
body unexercised, it leads to disease. The teacher taxes 
his mental, moral and physical powers and this is the 
reason why so many break down. It exhausts the whole 
man. Teachers are particularly liable to break down 
through nervous exhaustion. 

Ill-health involves want of thoroughness in work and 
ill-considered and hasty action. Nobody who gets irri- 
tated can act justly. It also involves a loss of self- 
confidence. Distrust of bodily strength leads to distrust 
of mental powers. The powers sympathize with each 
other. Strength of body stimulates strength of mind, 
while weakness of body induces weakness of mind. No 
teacher can afiford to excuse himself upon purely per- 
sO'Ual grounds. Ill-health may be largely avoided by 
regular, systematic work. Irregular work does more 
mischief than overwork. Work should be gauged in 

40 



DIDACTICS. 41 

amount according to our mental and physical strength. 
It should be prosecuted systematically as to hours of 
labor and of recreation. Work should have some refer- 
ence to the individual taste. We do most easily what we 
Hke to do. Our work should be so planned as to secure 
variety. The greatest amount of labor requires that 
each set of muscles alternately work and rest. The 
teacher's profession is peculiarly liable to this danger of 
monotony. Variety may be secured by a modification 
of details, by viewing the subject from different points, 
and by continual advancement^ — by moving in a spiral, 
each succeeding revolution carrying one higher. 

PRESERVATION OF HEALTH. 

Preservation of health is an imperative duty. The 
proper time tO' retire is ten o'clock, arising at six. The 
law to those pursuing an intellectual life, is that they 
shall get as much sleep as possible. The preservation of 
health is a very much neg"lected duty. The full value of 
health is not realized till it is lost. 

Proper ventilation of the school-room is a requisite 
to health. Health requires plenty of fresh air. The 
teacher should see that the school-room has this for 
his own health, for that of the pupils and as a condition 
for effective work. 

The room should be properly warmed. The feelings 
are no judge; hence every school-room must have a 
thermometer. A room too warm is more dangerous 
than one too cold. About 65 to 70 degrees is the proper 



42 DIDACTICS. 

heat. Pupils should never be allowed to meddle with 
the fire or the ventilation. 

There must be proper clothing. The feet are most 
sensitive tO' changes. The chest next. The sole of the 
foot is extremely sensitive, many nerves centering there. 
Hence the bastinado is a very severe and cruel punish- 
ment. In passing into the open air, teachers and pupils 
should guard against a. sudden change by extra cloth- 
ing. 

There must be proper exercise. Any change from 
an active to a sedentary life requires that especial atten- 
tion be given to exercise. Lessen the amount gradu- 
ally. Exercise should be uniform in amount and se- 
verity. It should not be so' severe as tO' add to the 
demands made upon the teacher's vital powers by his 
intellectual labor. No other work should be engaged 
in while teaching. All study, except in connection with 
instruction, should be suspended. The teacher is to a 
certain extent charged with the care of the health of 
the pupil. He should, so far as possible, attend to every- 
thing that affects their health — seats, desks, personal 
habits, food, etc. 

AVOIDANCE OF SINGULARITIES. 

The teacher should avoid any bad or noticeable habits. 
Children are largely imitable. It is the means by which 
they learn. We all most readily imitate what is odd or 
peculiar. We may even dO' this unconsciously. We 
all possess influence; hence there is responsibility. The 



DIDACTICS. 43 

danger in imitating" some speakers consists in an imita- 
tion of his oddities and not of the quahties that give him 
power. One of the Kings of France was hump-backed, 
and all his courtiers became hump-backed unconsciously. 
Queen Elizabeth had one shoulder higher than the other 
and her court developed the same characteristic. 

The following faults, among others, are to be 
avoided : 

First, an unbecoming- or lazy posture. Want of grace 
in posture and ease in motion is provocative of disorder. 
Women have usually a lazy habit of sitting; men an 
unbecoming one. The Americans have been distin- 
guished by their lazy positions. Someone has said that 
he has made a great discovery — the back was made to 
sit on. If a, man be made to sit orderly in a bar-room, 
then he will be otherwise orderly. 

Secondly, noisy movements. A noisy teacher makes 
a noisy school, and a noisy school is ungovernable. 

Third, loud talking. Quiet action always accompanies 
conscious power. A loud tone usually betrays a con- 
scious want of authority. It courts disobedience by 
seeming tO' expect it. It also interferes with study. A 
shallow stream makes the most noise. 

Fourth, want of neatness. A person slovenly in dress 
will be slovenly in teaching. Dress does not make the, 
man, but it helps him, a,wfully after he is made. At a 
woman's rights convention, men have long hair and 
women short hair. The opposite extreme of slovenly 



44 DIDACTICS. 

dressing is dandyism. This is also to be avoided. True 
modesty avoids any noticeable extreme. 

Fifth, want of order. The teacher should be as or- 
derly as he expects his pupils to be. 

Sixth, slang. It may be forcible; it is never elegant. 

Seventh, witticism. A professional wit loses the 
respect of his pupils. A joking teacher has a frivolous 
school, and, 

Eighth, any noticeable habits. These always become 
bad. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER. 
SOCIAL. 

The teacher should be social with children. Every 
professional man should cultivate his social nature. True 
sociality implies ability to meet men on a common level. 
A professional man who uses his intellectual and social 
nature, cannot ignore it; just as a laboring man cannot 
neglect to use his muscular strength, for it is his capital. 
If you meet an ignorant person, the first thing to ascer- 
tain is what is common to- both. Beecher was a most 
effective speaker, chiefly because in going before an 
audience he discovered what was common ground, and 
took it. All men are alike in common endowments. To 
let one's self down tO' a level with others without humil- 
iation to one's self, requires tact; so likewise does the 
faculty to raise one's self up on a level with others, with- 
out presumption, or more correctly, assumption. A 
gentleman must never cease to be a gentleman. Blunt- 
ness and rudeness should always be avoided. Be gentle- 
manly to a little child. The school is supposed to be 
below the teacher. He should reach down, not stoop 
down. Maintain a teacher's dignity always. True 
sociability also implies kindness of feeling that leads us 
.to seek society. Extremes of familiarity and reserve 



46 DIDACTICS. 

should be avoided. The former weakens authority, the 
latter weakens influence. It is not well for the teacher 
and pupils to meet only in the school room and in the 
official relation. The teacher may join in the sports of 
the school to a certain extent. There is a formal opposi- 
tion between pupils and teacher in the school room. To 
prevent this formal opposition from, becoming- real, the 
teacher must rely upon showing harmony of aims by 
lectures on g-overnment, etc., and upon his social in- 
fluence out of school hours. Interest in what interests 
others is a powerful bond. 

The social feeling is best secured by the adoption of 
some plan by which all may be brought together on a 
common level. For the older pupils this can be secured 
by lyceums or debating societies conducted by the 
pupils. This teaches them the value of order and gov- 
ernment. Also by reading clubs devoted tO' history or 
biography and by singing societies. For the younger 
pupils, spelling matches and rhetorical exercises. A 
common end demanding combined effort begets 
community of feeling and the school life becomes a part 
of a large whole, in which the interest of one is the in- 
terest of the whole. 

The teacher should be social with parents. The 
successful teacher m,ust possess somewhat of the paren- 
tal feeling. He must frequently consult parents; he will 
thus secure their confidence. The teacher must remem- 
ber that the condition of true sociability is perfect equal- 
ity. He ought to feel that his life is bound up in the 



DIDACTICS. 47 

after life of his pupils.; he must not assume the educa- 
tional air of schoolmaster. 

Narrowness is the teacher's greatest danger. 

A superiority that must constantly be asserted may 
fairly be questioned. Dr. Johnson said he never liked 
to leave London because the society was so varied that 
it prevented any tendency toward narrowness. A bigot 
is one who sees a single truth and thinks it is the whole 
truth. A man who spends his whole life making pin 
head«^ regards it as the greatest business in the world. 
Boarding around is good for the work of the teacher, but 
not for dyspepsia. Social intercourse will preserve the 
teacher from narrowness. Exclusive attention to any 
one thing tends tO' unduly magnify its importance in our 
eyes. Sociability will increase the interest in pupils. The 
teacher is too apt to see but one side of pupils and pa- 
trons. Such social intercourse interests parents in the 
school as well as in their own children. The social feel- 
ing may be cultivated by the means mentioned and by 
a course of familiar lectures for the benefit of the school. 
Such a course will be successful in proportion as it enlists 
home talent. The teacher needs the society of teachers. 
We need to correct our methods and ideas by the expe- 
rience of others. The teacher needs it to insure himself 
against the dogmatic habit. Constant association with 
inferior culture tends to beget this habit. Teachers' so- 
cieties are valuable. Their direct effect is imparting the 
experience of each for the good of all. The indirect 
benefits are seen in the mental stimulus gained and im- 
pulse acquired. 



CHAPTER IX. 

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE TEACHER. 
MORAL. 

The teacher should be a moral man. Morality is :i 
question of character rather than of creed. A creed is 
belief crystallized or a formulated belief; character is 
not whati we profess tO' be, but what we are and is de- 
termined by the use we make of the powers we have. 
It is the resultant of the personal force in the man and 
the force of circumstances. 

It is not being good but actively doing good. It is 
the resultant of conviction working out against ex- 
ternal forces. It is determined by the personal impulse 
given our powers and in the soul's response to external 
influences. Belief is the soul's answer tO' its convictions. 
The two are not necessarily coincident. Morality must 
include the entire influence exerted by the teacher. 
Morals bear the same relation to influence that learning 
does to teaching. Morality secures the teacher's personal 
influence for good, just as learning secures his teaching 
against error. The teacher takes the pupil at a plastic 
age and deals with him in the relations under which he 
is especially susceptible to influence. His position se- 
cures confidence; his confidence implies a trust. An 
intellectual trust is committed to the teacher; he must 

48 



DIDACTICS. 49 

teach. A moral trust is also committed to the teacher 
— the formation of the character of his pupil. Uncon- 
scious acts reveal character. Breach of confidence is a 
breach of trust. There is no excuse for a breach of 
confidence in either particular. The personal influence 
of the teacher will be either good or bad. To honestly 
discharge the trust imposed upon him, the teacher must 
possess a good moral character. No intellectual bril- 
liancy will make up for the absence of it. 

INFLUENCE OF THE MORAL CHARACTER. 

What precedes dealt with subjective moraHty, what 
follows with objective morality. The teacher must 
be able to exert a positive moral influence. He, 
by his profession, assumes a leadership. Superior 
power or attainments impose superior responsibility. 
Many an excellent man has little volitional power and 
consequently little influence. Morality is taught more 
by example than precept. A wicked man is a weak 
man. The word wicked means weak and is derived 
from the Anglo-Saxon "wick," meaning weak. Sin can- 
not be repressed by external force. The possession of 
moral character is the first condition of a proper dis- 
charge of the teacher's responsibility. Uniform obedi- 
ence to moral law is thus demanded of the teacher. 
Moral conviction leading to a sturdy avowal of moral 
obligations is the second condition of a proper discharge 
of responsibility. A truly moral man can never be in- 
different to moral considerations. This moral influ- 



50 DIDACTICS. 

ence is demanded by the individual who needs its pro- 
tection. Education confers power and power needs con- 
trol. It is also demanded by society which needs its 
control. The only safeguard for society is moral self- 
restraint. Religion, teaching dogma, is sectarianism. 
Dogma is excluded from our schools. A man who can- 
not feel, can have no influence there; a stoic has none. 
Religious emotion cannot be excluded from our schools. 
Because a school is not opened by prayer, it is not 
necessarily ungodly. Religion cannot be excluded if the 
teacher be religious. Schools should be non-sectarian, 
but they should not be immoral. There is continual 
opposition to all public institutions from denominational 
schools. When the teacher fully realizes the responsi- 
bility hanging over him he is appalled. The moral influ- 
ence of the school is secured by the personal moral 
influence of the teacher, not by any set religious exer- 
cise. It is safer to rely on influence than upon forms. 
The teacher must do and not do, what his school 
is to do and not do. This moral power is secured by a 
uniform! exercise of moral influence and a constant 
obedience to moral considerations. A teacher cannot 
exact of pupils more than he exacts of himself. 

This moral power secures authority. The recognition 
of the paramount claims of moral law fixes authority 
upon a rational basis. Obedience is not due to the 
teacher, but to the universal moral la,w. This recog- 
nition secures the habit of self-determined obedience to 
law instead of compulsory obedience to force. 



CHAPTER X. 

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 
APPARATUS. 

A neat, well-furnished school room is a requisite to 
good results. All surroundings have an educational in- 
fluence. Buildings out of repair invite vandalism. It 
first vents itself upon physical objects and finally turns 
itself on law, good order and study. What the school 
house shall be is largely determined by the teacher. 
There should be convenient seats and desks. Personal 
discomfort distracts attention. A shabby desk will make 
a careless scholar. There should be good blackboards 
and plenty of them. You can always find something for 
pupils to do at the blackboard. It is a relief from work, 
and work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Black- 
boards are essential for class work and illustration. The 
publicity of the work secures its honesty. They fur- 
nish the means of employing the idle and isolating the 
restless. Apparatus requires first itself and then the 
skill to use it. There should be maps, charts and globes; 
valuable both for instruction and indirect influence. One 
may unconsciously learn much of geography from the 
daily observance of a series of maps. Pictures, portraits 
and flowers render the school room homelike and attrac- 
tive and bring to the aid of a teacher the habits of obedi- 

51 



52 DIDACTICS. 

ence and good order that grow out of the home life. 
Models and philosophical apparatus are more necessary 
in schools of advanced grades, but are useful in any for 
purposes of illustration. A musical instrument should 
be supplied. Music is a powerful means of influencing 
the passions. It secures obedience, relieves the tedium 
of study and the restlessness of enforced quiet. All sig- 
nals should, so far as possible, be impersonal. A teacher 
should never make himself prominent in giving an order. 
Opposition, if any, would be turned against the object. 
Therefore a bell should be supplied. A time-piece is 
essential to regularity and regularity is essential to order. 
It should be in sight of the whole school. 



CHAPTER XL 

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. 

The contract should be in writing, full and unambigu- 
ous, and should be made and signed before the teacher 
begins his work. Women are more careless about con- 
tracts than men. 

The length of the terms is a matter of some import- 
ance. A term; may be so short as tO' prevent adequate 
results. A term may also be too long and result in lack 
of interest. The best length is about thirteen weeks. 

Each daily session should begin and end promptly. 
The same principle holds in case of recitations. The 
daily programme should be made out, publicly posted 
and strictly followed. Disorder here will lead to general 
disorder. The object of recess is rest and recreation. 
They should be regular in occurrence and uniform in 
length. They should not be so long as to allow the 
interest in play to become too absorbing nor so short 
as to seem worthless. From ten to fifteen minutes is 
the proper time. The Sunday is made for man, not man 
for the Sunday. A person can go^ to excess in church- 
going as he can in going to a dance. 

The question will frequently arise as to how to spend 
Saturdays and vacations? Days of recreation should be 

53 



54 DIDACTICS. 

days of rest. Mere idleness is not rest. The vacation 
may be spent in outdoor recreation or employment. 
Exercise taken as exercise soon becomes tedious and 
misses its end. It is most effective when some immedi- 
ate utility is joined tO' it, as, for example, botanizing, 
hunting, visiting, etc. The vacation may be spent in 
reading, which should be for the purpose mainly of 
recreation. The great scholars of the age are men of 
few books, but they know what is in them. The im- 
mediate ends in reading are two: Information — to place 
one in sympathy with the thought of the age and if pur- 
sued for this end falls into four courses: History, or 
reading what has been; Biography, who' have been; 
Science, what is known; and Living Questions, what is 
to be known. The other end in reading is for Recrea- 
tion, to place one in sympathy with the feelings of the 
age. Always read with a pencil in your hand and mark 
your own books. 

The chief danger to be avoided by the teacher is 
desultory reading. The following considerations will 
guard against this: Read nothing carelessly; careless- 
ness easily becomes a habit. Read nothing that does not 
interest you. Read thoughtfully, never gorging the 
mind with an undigested mass. 

Reading for recreation is of a lighter character. The 
great resource is fiction. The danger is of dissipation. 
Frivolous recreation leads to a frivolous life. Every 
pleasure should have an undercurrent of profit. 



DIDACTICS. 55 

PROPER CLASSIFICATION. 

Proper classification or grading is economy. It is 
absolutely necessary in a large school. One explanation 
thereby serves many. The teacher must remember that 
though the grade assumes equality, there are many men- 
tal differences. Classification saves the time of the 
teacher as well as that of the pupil. He is aided by 
competition and not hindered by those below him. The 
teacher must not forget that teaching is successful in 
proportion as it is individual. The grade assumes stu- 
dents to be actually equal, but in fact they never are so. 
Certain equalities exist; these are tO' be utilized. Cer- 
tain inequalities exist ; these are not to be ignored. 

The following principles will aid in grading a school: 
The previous acquirements of the pupil; his ability to 
acquire, and, to a certain degree, the ages of the pupils. 
It wounds self-respect to be classed with the much 
younger. Younger pupils are quicker in perception, 
older ones in reflection. A recitation has these objects: 
to test the thoroughness of the pupil's knowledge, to 
fix by exact and intelligent repetition and to explain 
difificulties. The recitation should be a running com- 
mentary on the lesson. The natural mental attitude of 
some people when a statement is made, is to deny it. 
These are not very teachable, because they believe noth- 
ing unless forced to it. Others, on the other hand, are 
too credulous. Between the credulous and the skeptical 
mind there is every gradation. The teacher's manner 



I ofC. 



56 DIDACTICS. 

should be brisk and active. The recitation should be a 
free converse on the subject before them by the pupil 
and the teacher. The teacher must hold the attention 
of the whole class. He must not be limited to the text- 
book. He should be master of it. He should not be 
mastered by it. He should make no more use of text- 
books in recitation than he allows the pupil. The more 
a teacher knows the less apt is he to show it. 

Tactics to the school is what discipline is to the army. 
Practice in moving- should be given in general exercises. 
Military order and precision should be aimed at in mov- 
ing to and from classes. Too much attention to this 
matter becomes intricate and confusing, while too little 
attention soon becomes none. All movements should 
be regulated by signals or words of command. Signals 
are better than words. The best signals are the most 
impersonal; hence the best of all is a good signal clock.* 



CHAPTER XII. 

METHODS. 

DEVISING METHODS. 

A good teacher must devise his own methods, which 
to be successful must grow out of the man. There are, 
however, general principles to be observed. No law can 
take into consideration the teacher's personality. Meth- 
ods deal with the ''how" of teaching. Law takes cog- 
nizance of uniformity. Method includes diversities also. 
It is important that we have method; it is equally im- 
portant that it be our own. A teacher must choose the 
tools he can work with best. A young teacher is liable 
to the danger of adopting the methods of others. There 
is a style in teaching as there is a fashion in dress or 
manner of address. When the methods of others are 
followed, we generally adopt that which has not made 
them successful, rather than that by which they could 
not help but succeed. We are more apt to adopt their 
oddities, not their excellence. Our method of teaching 
should grow out of our method of study. The teacher 
should study with the express purpose of teaching; he 
thus unconsciously shapes his method by his study. 
Method is not absolute. That is best that succeeds best. 
That is worst that fails. Some method is essential. 
Order is essential to success and method is essential to 
order. Method must therefore be made a matter of 

57 



58 DIDACTICS. 

Study and not left to chance, as we thus lose the bene- 
fit of experience. If we succeed we know not why; if we 
fail we cannot correct our error. Experiment is of value 
only as processes are determinate and remembered so 
that they may be repeated. If we copy others we are 
machines. When a man merely ''sees into a thing" he 
apprehends it; but when he grasps it, assimilates it, he 
makes it so much his own that he can impart it clearly to 
others. Then he comprehends it. 

Every opportunity of attending institutes and visiting- 
good schools should be improved. The object of a nor- 
mal school is to teach method. A residence at one for 
this purpose ought to be beneficial. 

READING. 

The prominent ends in teaching reading are two. 
First, ability to read for one's own knowledge. This 
requires only a knowledge of the symbols. There are 
two leading methods of teaching these; the word meth- 
od and the process of teaching by this is the thing pre- 
sented to the senses, the picture of the thing, the idea 
for which the symbol stands or the words as a symbol 
instead of the thing. The advantage is its logical 
process and the objection is that a word primarily rep- 
resents a combination of sounds rather than a thing. 
The sounds represent the thing. 

The second is the literal method. By this method 
are taught the names of the letters, the sounds of 
the letters and the words, by practice in reading. 



DIDACTICS. 59 

The advantage is the rapid acquaintance with some 
of the letters and formations of the syllables. The 
disadvantage arises from the same letter represent- 
ing dififerent sounds and different letters represent 
the same sound. The letters and their sounds must 
be learned. The word method cannot be wholly relied 
upon. The best method is a combination of both 
— the word method to teach the office, of the word to 
the eye, the literal method to- teach the relations of the 
symbols to the sounds. The theory of word method is 
that a word is a sort of conventional picture that has 
grown up from first being represented by hieroglyphics, 
then passing into a syllable and the syllable into a word. 

The second prominent end in teaching reading is the 
ability to read to others. It is surprising that while so 
many read, so few read well. The reason of this is that 
so few teachers teach well. Their main trouble is that 
they do not know what end or aim they have in view or 
what teaching reading consists in. 

In this method we have first the thing, then the pic- 
ture, then the word, and lastly the idea. Its advantage 
is the logical process of getting at a child's mind. In 
teaching a child its letters it is best to begin with I, 
which is a single straight mark, and then proceed with 
its combinations in M, N, V, U, H and W. Next in order 
take O and its combinations with I, as B, P, O, Q, etc. 
Then combine the letters made with straight lines into 
words, as HIM, and then the combinations of I and O 
into words, as NOW. 



6o DIDACTICS. 

Reading may be divided into three species. First, 
reading proper. Good reading should show that it is 
reading and not recitation. The reason why there are 
so few good readers is that a proper discrimination 
between different ideas is not made. Repetition lessens 
effect; consequently we must not read as we talk. 
Stress, pitch, accent, emphasis, inflection and rate must 
have their attention. By personating we take away the 
idea of repetition. But this must not be carried sO' as 
to wholly mislead, for then it becomes painful. The aim 
in reading is to communicate ideas. A marked manner 
weakens the effect. 

Second, recitation. This is incomplete personation. 
The utterance should be an exact imitation of the sup- 
posed original utterance. A work of art should shov/ 
what it is. The aim in recitation is to communicate feel- 
ing as well as thought. The imagination is appealed to 
as well as the intellect. 

Third, acting. This adds to recitation the exhibition 
of passion. The tendency of passion is to exaggerate; 
hence in acting all the accompaniments of utterances are 
carried beyond the natural limit. It demands gesture 
freely. The aim in acting is tO' delineate passion. The 
thought is always subordinated to the expression. These 
three species of reading should be kept distinct. 

ARITHMETIC. 

Has a great advantage in the interest children take 
in it. Our first knowledge is that of numbers. The 



DIDACTICS. 6l 

apprehension of knowledge is always a pleasure. Chil- 
dren can count before they can talk. 

The main difficulties to be overcome are the acquisi- 
tion of a clear conception of an abstraction. This diffi- 
culty is met by the number and variety of concrete ex- 
amples. 

Another difficulty arises in the perception of the ab- 
stract notion of relation (ratio). This difficulty is met 
by clearly apprehending the unit. An excellent practice 
for advanced pupils is the reduction of units of different 
scales to the scale of ten. 

The division between written and intellectual arith- 
metic is wholly arbitrary. All arithmetic being intellec- 
tual, the process of analysis should always precede every 
arithmetical operation. The analyses afford an excellent 
mental discipline for pupils somewhat advanced. The 
teacher should be cautioned not to lay too much stress 
upon analysis until the processes are perfectly familiar. 

In written arithmetic the operation (process) here is 
of prime importance and the formal analysis is wholly 
subsidiary. We should aim to secure Thoroughness, 
Rapidity and Neatness in the work. Thoroughness is 
best secured by insisting on a reason for every operation. 

Rapidity is best gained by constant repetition and by 
fixing the habit of rapid work. 

Neatness is best secured by work on the blackboard. 
Its publicity guards against carelessness. 



^2 DIDACTICS. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



It is important as an early study, as it deals with fa- 
miliar ideas and employs mainly the memory. 

Descriptive Geography. — Description appeals to the 
imagination through the eye. The map is the basis of 
geography. Map drawing is the basis of teaching 
geography. The map is an aggregate of topographical 
symbols representing the size, outlines and physical 
features of a country. All maps should be drawn to a 
definite scale. Some measurements are thus necessary; 
but all the details should be put in by the eye. 

The first step is the explanation of the symbols. The 
dif^culty lies in the purely arbitrary character of the 
symbols. Begin by drawing a map of the school room, 
school yard, etc., and gradually enlarge the map. For 
this, use only outlines. Then add symbols for physical 
features. Never allow a symbol to be used the meaning 
of which is unknown. Outline wall maps are good, but 
for purposes of recitation an original map is better. 

Physical Geography. — This is strictly philosophical 
geography. This seeks causes as the first seeks facts. 

Social or Political Geography. — This leads to history. 
The aim here is information. These several divisions 
should be taken up in the order given. 

GRAMMAR. 

The successful study of grammar requires consider- 
able advancement on the part of the pupil. The sen- 



DIDACTICS. 63 

tence is the unit. The English is an analytic languag-e. 
Languages in their earliest development have endings 
to express the relation of words. As we go down this is 
omitted. We cease to express metaphysical distinc- 
tions by physical terms. English grammar being 
analytical, it is philosophy and should not be mem- 
orized. The judgment must be relied upon. Analysis 
should precede. The sentence as a whole should 
be conceived. Analysis means the resolution of a 
whole into its parts. The whole thus to be re- 
solved is the sentence. We must have a clear knowl- 
edge of the whole as a whole before we can have a dis- 
tinct knowledge of the parts as parts. Sentential an- 
alysis is thus the basis of the study of English gram- 
mar. The parts of speech are the parts of a sentence. 
The English is to a limited extent an inflected or syn- 
thetic tongue. Sanscrit is the most perfect of all 
tongues. It has nine cases, Latin six, Greek five, Eng- 
lish three. Analytic tongues are mainly uninflected. 
Synthetic tongues are much inflected and depend upon 
mere mechanical expression. The English language is 
a matter of reason, not memory, the mere formal ele- 
ment being small. Synthesis joins parts to^ make up 
wholes. The whole is the sentence; the parts, the parts 
of speech. Distinct knowledge of the parts is essential 
to a clear knowledge of the whole. Parsing (assigning 
the parts of speech) is the second part of grammar. The 
danger of parsing is the formation of a mechanical habit. 
To avoid this, parsing should be made dependent upon 



64 DIDACTICS. 

analysis. To parse a sentence we must first ^understand 
it. To understand a sentence we must first be able to 
analyze it. 

The Text-book. — To make grammar a mere discipline 
of memory is largely a waste of time. Most text-books 
are faulty in this respect. They treat wholly of forms 
and rules. The best method will be mainly oral. Any 
common text-book may be used after an oral introduc- 
tion. 



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